Season 2 Episode 6 – Joel surprises Ellie for her birthday. Years later, Ellie prepares to confront Joel about her past.
Please note, our reviews are based on likes and dislikes. These contain significant spoilers. If you haven’t already watched the episode, we recommend that you click off the article and come back once you have watched the episode. Enjoy!
What I Liked
1. We get a very touching moment between Joel and his father. We see the dynamic of what Joel had to go through as a kid. We also get to see how early on Joel was hardened, and I believe this was an important scene to show.
2. The scene as Joel and Ellie are walking towards the museum is hilarious. “I won’t get pregnant if you promise to let me on patrol”. Perfectly timed and very well done. I do miss the dynamic between Ellie and Joel as much as I did love the second game.
3. We get the beautiful moment in the rocket that was very similar to how it was done in the game. Ellie steps into the rocket with an astronaut helmet on, Joel passes her a cassette tape with an ignition sequence countdown. I loved this scene in the game and I think they did very well with this in the show.
4. As we dip further through the years, we see Ellie’s rebellious nature come through with Joel struggling to be a parent. We see how Ellie got her famous tattoo, where the drugs began and more. It’s one of those where you can see it from both angles but it’s scenes I’m glad we got to see.
5. Eugene is shown and we do learn exactly what happened. All we knew so far is that Gail resents Joel for killing him despite understanding. You can see how the hardened nature of Joel come through here as once he realises Eugene is infected, he barely even hesitates. Ellie tries to convince Joel to allow him to take Eugene back to Jackson to essentially say goodbye to Gail. Joel instead leads him to a beach area and kills him.
6. I think for me with this episode is that it’s explored the true downfall of the relationship between Ellie and Joel. We see them happy with each year passing but it dwindles the more Ellie gets older and starts to question the hospital more. It adds a lot more to how things went prior to Joel’s death.
What I Disliked
In all honesty, I always try to find flaws in an episode where I can, but there wasn’t much to dislike. There was a lack of action, but did the episode need it? I don’t believe so.
Favorite Moment
“I don’t think I can forgive you for this, but I’d like to try”. Every damn time I saw this scene in the game it almost had me in tears. Bella and Pedro did a wonderful job in portraying this scene again. Perfectly done.
Standout Character
Joel takes it this week. I adore the second game and after a while, whilst you still miss Joel you kinda learn to get on with things. This show has had a large hole where his absence is felt. I’m happy the entire flashbacks happened in one entire episode instead of them being spread out like they were in the game but ultimately I’m sad as it’s likely we’ll not see him again.
Verdict
We break into the final episode with a dedicated flashback episode. This sets up perfectly for Ellie’s 3 days to come to an end. Joel’s return for one last ride was perfectly done and paid fantastic homage to the games with some added elements that were before unseen. I really did enjoy this episode.
Rating 7.8/10
The Review
Story - 9
Action - 1
Characters - 10
Entertainment - 9
Quality - 10
7.8
Good
We break into the final episode with a dedicated flashback episode. This sets up perfectly for Ellie's 3 days to come to an end. Joel's return for one last ride was perfectly done and paid fantastic homage to the games with some added elements that were before unseen. I really did enjoy this episode.
